Under Bad Circumstances
by Sharuba
Summary: Last Entry of Jack Fall Well, It has been a good run. Although these last few months have felt like years, I can't stop thinking we should have gotten through this. Damned covenant. We have managed to hold the fort, even with you gone. We have fought and have acted with resilience. But I don't think it will last much longer. Hope you reach the UNSC soon, Missy. WE need you.


_Last Entry of Jack Fall_

Well, It has been a good run. Although these last few months have felt like years, I can't stop thinking we should have gotten through this. Damned covenant. We have managed to hold the fort, even with you gone. We have fought and have acted with resilience. But I don't think it will last much longer. With the Elites and brutes beating on our front door, along with the threats of a looming Super carrier above us, charging its beam; The looters have become minuscule in scale. All of us are prepared for the inevitable. I am leaving this behind, a note, hoping it survives the glassing.

My name is Jack Fall.

If this reaches beyond the dust that is soon to settle, I want Missy to have full privilege on what is to be done with it. This is my will. I wish I could be there with you. I hope New Mombasa is safe from the reaches of these Disgusting bastards.

From maybe the last survivors of the planet Circumstance before it fell,

Good luck, And may the covenant BURN IN HELL.

_The Night of the Invasion on City Free Fall_

Boom. All I can hear is bellowing booms. Shock waves surging me right out of my bed, into some everyday wear, and out my door. Wrong choice. Outside my eyes catch the flickering lights of the midnight sky. But stars don't flicker. Slip space ruptures. Around ten catch my naked eyes. Like a fire alarm, these mean danger. The booming must have been ships already on their way. _What should I do?_ Panicking and pacing, I find myself rushing into my house. _I have no time to think. The UNSC have prepared us for this. First things first. I'll need my weapon. _

Racing all across my house I frantically look for my weapon. _Where did I leave the blasted thing? _Cursing under my breath, I dash to my bed. Lashing open my closet I tumble across a mess of clothing. I tear down the stockade of dressings to reveal the back of the closet, Where in the corner of the little space it lays. _Fervor_. A blade crafted to near perfection, forged out of the rare metal Delirium. Stronger than diamond, Even the energy swords favored by the Split jaws cant cut it. Handed down to me by-

My thoughts are cut short by the cries of people nearby.

I just finish throwing Fervor on my shoulder as I run out onto a panic-struck street. I look to see a no longer clear sky. A covenant cruiser blots out the stars, while phantoms and spirits (small drop ships) drop off their pay loads of demons. Stumbling back a bit, I find my heart beating far too fast, far too hard. _It's OK Jack, Take a deep breath. Its just the covenant. What you need to do Jack, is find the escape shuttles. _I take my advice and calm down a bit. I stand still as hundreds rush past me. Screeches and yelps all being subdued by the sounds of warfare. For an odd reason these sounds feel relaxing, once I tune in on the tones I like. Its almost rhythmic. All these people... Wait.

_What are they running from?_

Whipping my head back to the opposite direction of the fleeing , I see them. The disgusting creatures of the covenant. First I take notice of the Grunts. Man-sized humanoids, they wear a environmental suit to sustain them on earth like planets. They have leathery skin with hoofs and a face not even a mother could love. Wielding plasma pistols, they fire wildly at terrified crowds. The squeal like pigs. Or is that people dying? But nothing scares me more than the Elites, who order from the back of the group. Hulking creatures with four jaws, they make Satan hell-spawns look cute. With a massive body that overshadows all humans, their brute force barely match the technique and finesse they reach. Also with leathery skin and hoof, The only other distinguishing details to be mentioned are the inverted legs and four mandibles that make up their face. Did I mention their size?

The squad of Covenant demons close in. They laugh and scowl at the pitiful humans running from them. Before I become obvious I lunge towards a back alley. _Hopefully they won't think to look here. _Many of the civilians run to open doors, which wont help any more than simply running. A group of four humans make it to a building and shut the door; Eight Grunts barge in and all you hear are plasma bolts searing dead corpses. Peering from the safety of my back alley, I see a young boy ,seven or eight, stop running. He is shaking.

Behind an elite garnished in crimson armor walks up. It unleashes its blade. Made of pure energy, it sizzles and crackles as the elite easily towers over the child. The child trembling, turns around and stares up to his nightmare. Not saying a word, he simply looks into the monstrosity before him. _What are you doing kid, run!? _The elite like a sky scraper, has to hunch slightly to look down at this kid. Its slimy jaws writhe as hundreds of other humans die around him by the hands of lowly grunts. Suddenly the elite rips the child out his position and holds it by throat. In the eyes of the child I see fear and regret all mixed together. The Split jaw just sways its head back and forth in curiosity, or maybe in confusion. Maybe it wonders why it is not screaming. The hand of the elite positions itself for a stab. The boy shutters out a small tear. Then looks the elite in the eye with intense defiance, before the deft hand is dealt.

The Split jaw yells in victory,

As the innocent child crumples to the ground, organs splay out for the world to see.

I am taken aback, trying not to throw up. _Why?_ That child never deserved that! Why are they here!? That crimson elite, low life sounds more fitting. I will kill that bastard even if I die in the process! I muster all the strength I can as I unleash my weapon of choice, _Fervor._ Dashing towards the Crimson Devil, who still laughs at the daunting image. Three grunts standing beside him notice me running towards him and all line up to defend the Crimson Devil.

As the plasma pistols finally charge, I have already dealt the finishing blows. Blood gushes and stains everything around the falling bodies. Gases spray out of the gashes left in their environmental suits. _Now for the one who deserves my wrath. _The Crimson Devil, with curious eyes, turns to face a battle ready me.

"If you think you can just kill innocent children, Then you should be brutalized beyond the point of recognition!"

The Elite just snorts at my pity complaints. With such lazed movement, not even trying, the Devil raises his blade not expecting a full battle.

With a quick slice to his face, He throws himself back, surprised. The devil watches one of his jaws plummet to a rest on the ground. Blood soaking his armor, The crimson devil yells in hatred and retreats to a back alley, probably where his grunts are hiding. Its time for me to take my leave. With no one else left on the main street, I sprint towards the nearest corner.

Whipping around the corner I find a new sight. One not as beautiful as the ancient Mona Lisa. Bodies. Hundreds of them lay strewn across the road. Few are of alien origin, while the majority are of human descent. Blood drowns the gutters. Plasma burns and rubble lay along side the sad scene. I look up to see flaming buildings and battle riddles roof tops. The sky is slightly lit by a rising sun; Then there are the sleek, purple covenant ships filling the sky. Too many for my taste. Then the smell of charred and torn flesh hit me, Forcing a hand to reach up and cover up.

Its surprising how quickly the street cleared out though. Were they just doing a panic attack? Putting fear into our hearts, showing their force, and simply staying back until the true threat comes out? No doubt that is it. Speaking of their threat, where is the UNSC? Would they not be here by now? Maybe the communications got shut down for the invasion. But that doesn't explain why the Local law enforcement haven't retaliated yet. Could they have been assassinated? What if they were part of this?

_Hew, now that's just crazy talk, Jack._

A loud snap breaks me from my thoughts. I ready myself for a fight, but then I think. Was that the sound of camera? Reassessing the situation, I realize that most definitely that was the sound of a camera going off. Who would be taking pictures right now?

"Hello?" I call out hesitantly to the dead piles.

Straining to hear a response, I find myself waiting patiently. _Am I going mad? _No, post traumatic stress comes after the insanity of war. There is no way it has begun already. Still waiting, the tension builds and recedes as nothing answers. Weird. Why the sound of a camera, of all things? Forgetting this little incident, I begin my stroll forward. _First things first, I'd better head to the launch stations. _The Space port is located on the west side of town, near the lake. Better take off runs and less chance of superficial damage that way. It will make for a long walk though, and who knows? Maybe they've already made the call. Even with the Covenant cruisers over head, I can't help but feel safe walking on the street. If they really wanted to just kill us all they would have glassed it all. Something important must be here. But what could possibly be more important than killing humans? I can't help but giggle at the sickening thought. To wonder away from those thoughts , I choose to look over my thin knowledge of the City Free Fall

The city Free Fall used to be quite the gorgeous sight. With hundreds of sky scrapers reaching to the stars, and hundreds of smaller building hugging close to them, one can't help to think how many people actually populate this city. Most of it is run by interplanetary organizations. Our main export is water,seeing how the planet is 90% ocean. All clean, not a drop of salt water. Sadly that means our import is pretty much food; this makes up for the lack of fauna. Too bad this City won't much longer.

I'd give it about a month or two, and that's if the UNSC actually make it here in time. Come to think of it, don't we have a shipyard somewhere near the city as well? Shouldn't there be at least one UNSC ship docked at least? _Ah well I can't sit here and dwell on what went wrong and how it should have went. _I stop for a moment and put myself on the task at hand. I have to make it to those evacuation ships. Hopefully the streets are so empty of vehicles and people because either:

they're dead.

On their way to the e vac ships.

I don't even want to think of another thought.

Humming along to my thoughts, I hear an off beat. Freezing in place, I feel the sweat start extruding from my skin. _Don't tell me, but I'm pretty sure that was a camera click. _My heart racing, I can't bring myself to move. Nothing is moving in front of me either than paper blowing in the calm sea breeze. I reach over to my blade, flush my thoughts of fear, and whip around. I yell for extra reassurance. Behind me just lays the blood riddled streets and hollow building, with a purple ship floating eerily over as a backdrop.

"Okay, _Camera Man, _come out here now!"

A bit flustered, I yell out unexpectedly and thrash around like whining child. From the sounds of me stomping I hear something different. Ruffling of some clothes near a bench and garbage can send me hurdling towards them.

"Ha ha, you little bastard come out of there!"

I kick over the can to find nothing hiding behind it. But wen the can hits the ground, it sounds oddly full. Almost as if a body is in there. Peculiar. I approach with some regret because someone may have been hiding in there.

" Hey, I'm sorry if I scared you ."

I show much resentment in my voice, hoping this will coax out the likely terrified child hiding within. Peering over, I look in the can. Its just fall of garbage. _Well I look like an idiot._ I whisper under breath while also sighing some relief. I don't know if I would've killed that person or not. My nerves must be pulled tight or already snapped. Releasing the tension on my muscles, I let myself slouch down onto the bench. " I must have been walking for the past three hours!"

I speak aloud as I tear my boots off and let my aching feet breathe in fresh air. I take a deep breath and accidentally doze off, forgetting the daunting situation at hand.

Startled by the click of a camera, I stumble up and scan the area with blade in hand. Still feeling dopey, I trip and fall onto a pile of corpses. I hate the taste of throw up. Along with the smell I cant help but kick back up onto my feet. With this little experience, for me to be wide awake is an understatement. So, realizing I am my only threat, I lay back onto the bench and look up to the carrier hovering above. Just as I begin to admire its sleek and unique design, I notice a glint off to the side. Then three others. These gleaming light look like meteors plummeting down to the ground. Is that what they are? Two of the glimmering lights swerve off towards the carrier; Its engines roar to life in the back as the objects come diving in at ridiculous speeds. The two that didn't swerve release some debris and crash through a sky scraper and touch down a few blocks away. Well, one actually gets thrown off towards another skyscraper, lodging itself within the building.

Sadly, for the other two, they rip into the cruiser with no exit point to be found. From the outside eruptions of blue flames jet out from the entry points and bellowing booms echo through the dawning street. Once the action stops, I find myself standing flabbergasted by what I just witnessed. Did I just watch ODST's crash land into a cruiser? That must mean a UNSC ship is in orbit! Cavalry has arrived! Now the e vac ships shall surely make it out of here fine! _I better double time it over then! _Skipping back and forth, I jauntily continue my walk, completely forgetting the length of time that has passed since I have actually rested.

Once I am off world, I hope to start up my education again. As a young university student, there's nothing more id like to do then finish my teachings. I have been going for a job as a historian, learning ancient Earth past times. Mainly on the years before 2000, I study. But information on that year alone is hard to come by. Nothing too complicated for me. Ah, the memories, too bad this little covenant attack will be cut short on the FIRST day. Stupid Covenant. Why would they bother anyways, when they probably knew it would be a fruitless endeavor? Who cares. I skip along towards the west coast with a revised vigor in my step. _Have I gone through a lot in this one day, or what?_ Personally, I never thought id use _Fervor. _I hope that Crimson armored elite dies by the hands of a noble Marine. Hopefully brutally, too. Otherwise he will be the laughing stock of the group; its just funny that a hulking, monstrous being would run away from someone like me. _Well, these thoughts don't matter since ill be safe at a new planet. Probably Reach. _Hopping with overbearing glee, I quickly lose my joy through the sound of putter-patter scurrying up behind me. I finish my stride and go stiff. _I swear, there has to be ghosts haunting me. _Worrying thoughts consume me. Too many "random" sounds. This is no sick joke. There is no chance in hell this just coincidence. Then. that damned fabled sound rings through my whole body, sending shivers to my soul. With a small twitch of my head, I cant help but give a wry smile.

The sound of a Camera click.


End file.
